Australia is one of the most regulated socio-economic environments on the planet, making it also one of the most persistent battle-grounds between business and governments in trying to reduce the regulatory constraints on business performance. Although some of the regulatory constraints are introduced with the view of positively influencing business risk management practices, the number of regulatory actors and related pressures on business is increasing requiring ever more structural adjustment by affected businesses and sectors.

One of the key issues facing organisations and developed societies in the post-industrial age is increasing productivity in order to meet the demands of the changing global economy. There are calls to lift Australia's productivity to the top five in the world by 2012.

As in most advanced capitalist economies, innovation in Australia is primarily defined narrowly as the application of scientific knowledge or radical technological change. But this is at odds with the reality of innovation, which is more likely to involve sustained, incremental improvements in products and processes, rather than technological breakthroughs. It is also likely to be driven by the need to solve customer and market problems more imaginatively than competitors.

Australians are now living longer than at any other stage in history. At the same time, our society has been burdened by a dramatic increase in chronic disease. In 2005, it was estimated that 77% of Australians are living with a long-term chronic condition.

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